Biological systems are remarkably complex. They are composed of spatially varying materials and they exhibit geometric features over a wide range of length scales, from hundreds of nanometers to centimeters and above. Biological tissues and organisms can grow and differentiate cell-by-cell incorporating new materials and combinations of materials and taking on new forms with each step. A poster child for biological complexity is the gecko, which has inspired numerous efforts to create gecko-inspired adhesive materials. However, the gecko not only has an adhesive system terminating in spatulae with dimensions on the order of 100 nm but also has setal stalks, lamellae, branched digital tendons, blood-filled sinus cavities, and toes at varying length scales from micrometers to centimeters and with a wide range of material properties. No synthetic adhesive system combines more than a few comparable features, and none approaches the versatility of the gecko's adhesive system. The present invention advances the art of bio-inspired mechanisms and robotic systems using synthetic gecko-inspired adhesives capable of interacting with non-flat surfaces.